LONDON,
June 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Europe’s biggest
Muslim community center opened in London Friday, June 11.
The
London Muslim Center, in Whitechapel, is designated to improve
understanding between Muslims and members of other faiths in the
country.
Teaching
women and young people job skills and how to balance work with their
role at home are among the aims, the BBC News Online said.
The
six storey center can accommodate 10,000 worshippers, as it has a
library, crèche, conference rooms, a gym and classrooms.
It
is an extension to the East London Mosque, situated on the Whitechapel
Road in the heart of London and one of the oldest and busiest in the
country.
Charities
The
center was funded by British public, raising some £4m for the
project, which sponsor bricks with their names on, according to the
BBC.
"But
in a spirit of modesty the names are on the inside of the bricks -
invisible to the eye."
Bodies
including the European Development Fund, the London Borough of Tower
Hamlets, Surestart and the London Development Agency also joined in
funding the center.
Mosque
leaders said this "uniquely British Muslim center will bolster
London's reputation as a vibrant and diverse international city,"
mosque leaders said.
Prince
Charles Attending
Celebrations
of the inauguration were to include fairs and open days for
non-Muslims, to continue until the weekend.
The
East London Mosque said on its website that community conference,
chilldren’s fair, stalls, women’s event will be witnessed in the
first three days.
Thousands
of worshippers were expected to attend Friday prayer led by Saudi
Al-Haram Mosque – Islam’s holiest in Makkah – Sheikh
Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudays, to mark the center's inauguration, said the
BBC.
Prince
Charles - in Washington for Ronald Reagan's funeral - was due to open
the center but will instead speak by video-link, it added.
Secretary
general of the Muslim Council of Britain Iqbal Sacrani, the UK's chief
rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Saudi ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal and
charities minister Fiona Mactaggart will be in attendance.
The
center completes an array of buildings that include social housing,
religious services and community projects.
One
of the East End's oldest synagogues, built in 1899 is one of the
block’s buildings.
The
Borough of Tower Hamlets, in which the East London Mosque resides, has
the highest Muslim population in the country.
The
mosque already provides government officials with classes in Islam and
Muslim culture and will mount exhibitions of Islamic art and host
interfaith discussions.
It
also attempts to present Islam to the wider society. The Mosque
engages in various activities. These include providing Islamic
literature, organizing open days, study groups, conferences, seminars,
exhibitions and social support where necessary.
